This is a past event
A festival to celebrate the wonderful storytelling traditions of the North East of Scotland, the Highlands, Ireland, and England to be held in Deeside.
About the Weekend
The weekend is a unique celebration, bringing together outstanding storytellers from the North East of Scotland, the Highlands, Ireland, and England, including Traveller traditions.
The event is especially for those who like to hear and tell stories, and enjoy a ceilidh atmosphere, which includes songs and music. Informal and friendly, it will be just the place to encourage less experienced storytellers as well as welcoming old hands. There's something for everyone - from workshops to storyrounds, from talks by experts to ceilidhs featuring the guests - great craic to be had by all!
The Storytellers
Sandy Stronach is an engineer, lecturer, and farmer, who is an uncompromising product of the North East 'doric' culture, thirled to the promotion of its tongue, music and traditions. He is presently Director of 'The Doric Festival'.
Stanley RobertsonA master storyteller, ballad singer and piper who learned his skills from his parents and grandparents as well as from other family tradition bearers. An Aberdeen man of deep Traveller roots and convictions, Stanley's repertoire of ballads and all kinds of stories runs into many hundreds.
Alec John WilliamsonEqually impressive whether telling stories in English or in his native Gaelic, from a Ross-shire family, Alec John is one of the last of the Highland Travellers to get his stories - many of them classic tales - directly from his family around the camp-fire.
John Campbell and Len GrahamTwo of Ireland's premier exponents of the arts of traditional singing and storytelling. John is one of Ireland's finest seanachies (storytellers) and has represented Ireland at many international festivals in Europe and the USA. Len is one of Ireland's best known traditional singers who has gained international recognition, not only for his inimitable singing style, but also for the breadth of his knowledge of Irish folk music. Both John and Len live in Mullaghbawn, South Armagh, a district steeped in tradition and folklore.
Lorna AlexanderRetired primary headteacher of Strathdon School, Lorna started writing stories for telling to adults in 1990, as a member of the Bennachie Writers. She has won many trophies at local festivals. All the stories are based on her own life experience and are told in the 'mither tongue' of Aberdeenshire.
Cecilia 'Bunty' PennyNow at Stuartfield, but born and bred at Kinghorn Farm, Newmachar, Bunty started telling and writing stories as a child on the farm, and has a special love of local legends, interesting characters, 'ghostie' stories, and funny stories.
Jackie RossJackie is an Aberdeenshire quine with a love of Scottish stories and a desire to deliver local tales and legends in the 'mither tongue'. She is a trained primary and secondary teacher and she has used storytelling in this context for many years. She is chairperson of the newly formed GAS (Grampian Association of Storytellers).
Bill NicolaisenBill is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Aberdeen and President of the Folklore Society. A distinguished scholar, whose interests include folklore and place names, he is an authority on contemporary urban legends.
Mairi MacArthurMairi is a writer and publisher in the fields of local and oral history, specialising particularly in the traditions of the Islands of Mull and Iona, where her father was raised in a Gaelic-speaking crofting community. She has a doctorate from the School of Scottish Studies, and now lives in the Highlands where, among other activities, she is the co-organiser, with Bob Pegg, of the annual Ross-shire storytelling festival, Tales at Martinmas.
Bob PeggBob's love of stories began with the made-up tales his grandmother told him as a young boy. Nowadays he enjoys telling traditional folk tales, stories about strange lands and the creatures who inhabit them, tales about the Highlands, stories in song and tales focusing on music. Now living in the Highlands, he is an active participant and co-ordinator of local arts events.
Sheena BlackhallSheena is Creative Writing Fellow in Scots at the Elphinstone Institute and is widely engaged with schools and community groups in encouraging use of the local tongue. With Les Wheeler, she has constructed The Elphinstone Kist, a Scots language website, chock-full of stories, which has recently gone live. She is also a much-loved storyteller and singer in the North East.
Programme
Saturday 20 April
9.30 - 10.00 Welcome10.00 - 11.30 Workshops - see below11.30 - 11.45 Tea / coffee11.45 - 12.45 Talk by Bill Nicolaisen The Kentucky Fried Rat, The Licked Hand and The Unzipped Mechanic: Contemporary Legends as Therapeutic Devices12.45 - 2.00 Lunch2.00 - 3.15 Storyrounds3.15 - 3.45 Tea / coffee3.45 - 5.00 Storyrounds7.30 - 11.00 Ceilidh - stories, songs and music from the guests
Sunday 21 April 10.00 - 11.30 Workshops - see below11.30 - 11.45 Tea / coffee11.45 - 12.45 Talk by Mairi MacArthur Sgeul gu Latha: Tales until Dawn. A general look at the world of Scottish Gaelic storytelling, its historical roots, its scholars and collectors, and practice today 12.45 - 2.00 Lunch2.00 - 5.00 Ceilidh - stories, songs and music from the guests
WorkshopsStanley Robertson - The Oral Tradition of the StoryJohn Campbell & Len Graham - Two Ploughmen Bards: The Stories, Songs and Poems of Patrick Kavanagh and Robert BurnsBob Pegg - Skinning the Cat: Ways That Stories Can WorkSheena Blackhall - Hitchin a Lift on a Lilt: The Story ahin the Sang
- Hosted by
- Elphinstone Institute
- Venue
- Woodend Barn